Followers

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Leading up to Christmas

The last week of school before Christmas, Natalie caught a horrible virus. Only, we didn't know what was going on at first. It started on a weekend while we were visiting my parents. She woke up at midnight with a 104 fever. That was the highest it had ever been, but I was able to get fluids and motrin down her. However, it wasn't coming down. She looked terrible and was so lethargic. Mom and I worked so hard trying to get that fever to come down, but about 45 minutes after I gave her the medicine, it had gone up to 105.2!! I took her to the ER. This is my poor girl:

By the time we got there, her fever had come down to 102.6 but she was still feeling lousy. They piggy-backed some tylenol onto the motrin I already gave her and within an hour her fever broke completely. She was hyper and singing "jingle bells" as loud as she could. LOL. It was amazing to see the difference in her!

We finally made it back to my parents by 6AM and got some sleep. Unfortunately, her fever came back and continued to run pretty high for a total of 152 hours. (almost SEVEN days) I was beside myself, worrying about her. Mike was worried about me. If I caught this...it could be devastating to our baby! Needless to say, there was lots of praying going on! I kept Natalie next to me every night that week so I could keep a close eye on her.

By the 5th day of 104 degree fever, we were sent to Children's hospital for a chest x-ray and blood work. Blood work indicated it was a virus. Which just meant we had to wait-it-out. My miserable girl watching waiting-room cartoons:

The night after our visit to the hospital, Lexi came down with an illness that had her vomiting constantly throughout the night. However, the rest of us were spared the high-week long-fever that Natalie had. By the 6th day, her fever dropped significantly to around 99. On the 7th day, she woke up me smiling, and said she didn't feel bad anymore. I damn-near burst into tears. Oh the relief!

Mike took this picture of us girls on December 22nd, right before they went to bed.

The next morning, Mike and I BOTH woke up with vomiting, diarrhea, and fevers. We were dying. No, we weren't, but that would have been more merciful. Neither one of us could function. He was upstairs in bed, and I was pitifully trying to entertain our girls while laying on our sofa. Which Lexi found completely unacceptable! LOL.

Mike's parents saved the day, and came to pick up our daughters and took them to their house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We are so grateful. I was getting worse by the minute by the time they left. Mike and I were weak as kittens and were texting each other from opposite ends of the house. I was struggling to drink enough water b/c I could hardly get off the sofa to get it for myself. He was the same. We couldn't even take care of each other!!

Randy and Dorie brought Natalie and Lexi home that evening, but not before Natalie got sick. I got Lexi in bed, and then managed to do a bit of laundry and get some water for Natalie before I realized I did too much too soon. The next morning, all three of us were better, but I was still struggling with fatigue from the illness. Thankfully Mike's parents did NOT get sick.

That brings us right up to Christmas Day...which I will post about soon! :)